The leaves of many elms, especially Siberian elm trees, are yellowing. If you look closely, there may be yellow tunnels in the leaf, or the middle may be completely hollowed out and look like a puff pastry. This is the work of the elm leaf miner.

These pests spend the summer, fall and winter burrowed in the ground. In early spring they emerge as adults – small black insects that look like a stout wasp. The adults mate and the females deposit their eggs in slits on the upper surface of the leaves. The larvae hatch and begin to eat the nutrient-rich center, creating tunnels, which may connect and become large, open, dead pockets. After the larvae complete development in late spring or early summer, they drop to the ground. If the infestation is bad, the larvae may appear to be raining out of the tree, especially on windy days.

If there are yellow spots on the leaves of your elm trees, it is too late for control measures, so plan for next year. One option is to spray right before the adults lay eggs on the leaves, but timing can be difficult. The other problem with spraying elm trees, especially large ones with canopies that spread over houses, playgrounds, parking areas and other high-use areas, is the potential for the pesticide to drift off-site.

Perhaps the best option is to use a systemic chemical called Merit, whose active ingredient is imidacloprid. Merit is injected into the root zone of the tree and taken up by the roots and translocated to the leaf tissue. When present in the leaf tissue, it will kill any feeding larvae.

The product needs to be in place before the larvae begin to feed. This process can take some time. The advantage is that once the chemical is in the leaves, it will stay there for an entire year. Once treatment starts, as long as it is done annually, there will be almost complete control of this insect and others, such as aphids. Because Merit is injected in the soil, there is no opportunity for the product to drift off-site, and the chemical does not affect lady beetles and bees.

The nice thing about Dutch ovens is that their iron is of one weave, so to speak, with nothing but metal all around, over and above, whatever’s cooking in them. So hot coals on their noggins is a no-never-mind.

The annual hop harvest is just around the corner in Washington state’s Yakima Valley, the agricultural area where 75 percent of America’s hops are grown, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.